Berlin again...

I'm back from a great weekend in Berlin to a cold house! My central heating boiler has broken down. Fortunately it looks as if I can have a new one fitted before Christmas which is good as the firm I use close down on Friday until the New Year. The heating engineer is working on it as I write.

I was so cold when I got back yesterday and slept very poorly because the bed was so cold. Yes I know there are other ways to keep warm in bed but Inès is still in Berlin and there was nobody else available! I should have written on here immediately for volunteers!!!

I am fortunate that I have some wood burning stoves but they don't heat the water so I will be very smelly soon.

There was an international munch in Berlin on Friday evening that I thought we might get to. We went last year and met some really interesting people. However by the time I arrived and got settled and we'd had our first gluhwein and something to eat it was rather late to head across town. So we didn't make it this year. There are always lots of BDSM events in Berlin and places for debauched fun. Anonymous mentioned the KitKat club in a comment to an earlier post. This year though we didn't get to any of them. We mostly had lots of vanilla fun visiting the Christmas markets and soaking up the Berlin atmosphere.

We did meet up with Heidi of Pique Lingerie again. No - not for play, just to chat and hang out. She introduced us to a great cafe restaurant that we would never have found on our own and had lots of fun catching up and chatting and drinking tea and eating some lovely food. All very vanilla but great fun. Thank you Heidi. Though next time we have a possible photo-shoot planned with some very imaginative ideas. So watch this space.

I may not post again before Christmas so I would like to wish all my readers the very best wishes for the festive season and a very happy and peaceful New Year. Thank you especially to those of you who have taken the time to comment and join in our discussions during the year. May all the most salacious and depraved of your wishes come true - and may Father Christmas bring you the sex toy of your dreams... !

:)

P xxxx

restrained

Inès is on a train somewhere in Germany. She set off from the North of England very early this morning by train and if all goes well should arrive in Hamburg late tonight. I got a text early this afternoon to say she was travelling through Liège in Belgium.

I was so pleased as I was worried she might not even get as far as London. We have had snow and freezing temperatures in the last few days and English trains don't seem to like the cold - leading to frequent cancellations during inclement weather. There is a famous occasion when trains were cancelled in autumn ('fall' for our American cousins) because of "leaves on the line".

It is great though to travel by train. You have some idea of the distance you are travelling rather than when flying - which is just 'magic'.

Inès was bemoaning the fact she was stuck in a train seat for so long. It is good for her to be restrained and controlled like that. It makes her stop and reflect. I should tie her up more. I think I may message a friend in Berlin to see if she can arrange some restraint and control for Inès when she arrives there. I am sure the friend will have contacts!

I'm planning to meet up with Inès in Berlin at the end of the week for the Christmas markets and festive fun. Some fetish fun would be good too. We'll have to see!

Do you or your partner need that too - to be made to stop for a while from your mad, manic life, to pause and reflect? Is bondage and domination the perfect answer???

rubber and latex...

I'm not a fan of rubber and latex as a sensory feel, unlike leather or silk, it doesn't have the same sensory appeal to me. However I do like the look it gives of someone totally encased in a way that can be very flattering to their body. (Though the models of course tend to all have very attractive bodies in the first place!) To me the restriction and encasement has a direct link with bondage and bdsm.

I came across Reflective Desire via Twitter, I think. There is lots of free stuff but if you find you like it then of course do feel free to support them. (I have no affiliate link.) The free videos on there may provide an interesting introduction.

Are there different textures, fabrics, sensations that turn you on? Heavy leather, delicate silks? Can fabric or clothing turn you on? Even what has become street wear with high heels, tight skirts and dresses, might almost mirror the effect. So what fabric or clothing turns you on? Both to wear and to see.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers.

Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe

Do you know this painting by Edouard Manet? You can see it here. It is a painting of  two fully clothed men at a picnic with a naked woman. There is another partially clothed woman in the background.

There Is a photo I like of Man Ray and Paul Eluard with one of my favourite photographers Lee Miller and two other women. You can see it here. Miller herself also took a photo of the scene which you can see here. The men are fully clothed and the women all topless.

There is an interesting eroticism in the notion of clothed men accompanied by naked women. To me it implies a level of D/s control and has an erotic charge of the women appearing to be making themselves available to the men - or having been made available for them.

I imagine it would work also the other way round with clothed women and naked men where the power balance would be the opposite.

Inès works as an artists' model and so is regularly naked in a room full of clothed people. Usually the groups are mixed but often can be men only or can be one-to-one sessions with a man. The eroticism of this situation is carefully avoided, it is supposed to be art, a professional relationship, but I find it hard to believe there is not an undercurrent of eroticism.

Next weekend Inès and I were hoping to go to an event where the men would all be dressed smartly in suits and the women all naked. I think because of work commitments it may not be possible. This is the second year running we have tried to get along but things have got in the way. We are both disappointed, perhaps especially Inès. As well as the power dynamic she also gets off on the exhibitionism.

Have others been involved in this kind of scene? Do you enjoy the power dynamic of clothed/unclothed? Do you like to be an exhibitionist or do you like to be the voyeur?

Dominance - being weak to be strong

There are a lot of pressures on Doms to remain strong. That is their role. Their subs expect it. That is why many have given their submission to another - for them to be strong and control and care for them.

But there are times when we all need some down-time. For a Dom that may be to be weak for a while; to let go and not be all-powerful; to just relax themselves and let go of the responsibility. "Responsibility" puts on so much pressure. In the end we all need a break from it. There are many who have responsible real life jobs who love to spend time as a submissive with a dominant just to be able to let go. So if someone close to you relies on you to be dominant then where do you go? What do you do when pressures build up? How do you respond?

A friend recently wrote to me that she remembered her Domme saying to her, "that she could never do a 24 hour play relationship because she needs to be able to be weak sometimes in order to be the strong dominant I know."

This was at a time when we were both feeling lots of pressure and stress. She continued, "And I feel totally weak because all the stress from the last weeks is catching up with me. But I realize I need this so that I can go on later." Then recommended that I take a break too.

It is the same for all of us - whether dominant or submissive. We sometimes need a break from stress. BDSM can sometimes be that break - to take us totally out of our day to day worries. However if we are over-stressed then it might be difficult to maintain that dominant demeanour.

So subs, if your dominant needs a break, remember the very wise words of my friend about her dominant, "she needs to be able to be weak sometimes in order to be the strong dominant I know."

keeping on keeping on...

I recently received some very kind and complimentary words about this blog from a commenter here.

They concluded, "Thank you, Pygar, for writing such thoughtful posts and creating a great space on the web for us to ponder these issues."

The post helped motivate me to continue writing the blog. It is difficult sometimes finding the time in a busy life. The popularity of the blog has varied over the years and has lost a considerable number of regular readers since my year's hiatus while I was in China. There is also the problem of coming up with new, relevant and interesting topics for discussion after so many years.

However it is always good to be reminded how many people over the years have found the blog interesting and helpful. I know people's lives have been changed by it. I know too that the strength of it is in the discussion and contributions by those who join in by commenting.

So I will try to keep writing. Let's keep discussing "the ethical questions that D/s and BDSM bring up". Please help me by adding the occasional comment and even suggesting topics that you would like to be discussed.

Thank you to all my readers.

Weinstein

There have been so many words written recently in relation to this man's actions and the broader issues they raise. So I do not presume to think I have much to add but will say just a few words as men have been asked to do so rather than it being women who are condemning such actions.

Of course I do so - and recognise that it is not just about one man or one business but pervades society and too often men's attitudes to women. In particular it applies to men in power and how they chose to use or abuse that power.

A BDSM relationship or situation is just that - where one person has power over another. The key is whether the one with power chooses to abuse that power relationship. Within the BDSM community there is such a consensus over the need for consent and opprobrium towards those who abuse that situation that I hope such abuse is rare. However I am sure it does happen. It is for all of us to call out when we become aware of such abuse.

I hope in my blog posts over many years I have been consistent and explicit about that.

back from Berlin...

I'm back from Berlin now. It made a great break from pressures at home but I'm not sure I got up to the amount of depraved debauchery (or is it debauched depravity?) that my readers expect of me! Perhaps I was too tired. Though Inés did get involved in some body painting in the centre of Berlin so was photographed naked at Checkpoint Charlie!

Here is a link to a photo. NSFW

And no, before you ask, the golden cock isn't mine. I was taking the photograph.

I did also get to meet Heidi, the creator of Pique Lingerie while I was there. At that time she was very stressed as she was trying really hard to get lots of publicity to support her Kickstart campaign. Since then she has found out that the campaign was a success so is thrilled by that. Thank you to those of you that have offered support.

We tried to fit in a photography session but didn't have the time. So a bondage shoot is now planned for a future visit!

Berlin

I'm flying to Berlin tomorrow to meet up with Inès. I'm hoping to have lots of fun and, who knows, perhaps some delightfully decadent debauchery!

:)

I will also be meeting the founder of Pique Lingerie for a coffee so I am also looking forward to that.

I'll let you know all about it when I get back.

Well, nearly all...

;)

lingerie, sensuality and fetish...

Decadent lingerie from Berlin for the fuller figure...

I'm afraid this post starts as something of a promotion. I once before advertised an online book on spanking by an online contact that I thought was good but I think that is the only previous time I have done this.

I have a friend in Berlin who is setting up a lingerie business for the fuller figure.

" Inspired by Berlin's hedonistic, pleasure-seeking underground, Pique Lingerie explores the nuances between desire and decadence, temptation and compulsion It seduces you into rousing hidden urges and embracing passion without compromise." Well that's what it says on the website!

Perhaps you might like to have a look at the website here or the Kickstarter site here. She talks about it herself and how it was motivated by her search for sensual lingerie for the fuller figure and inspired by her growing love of fetish and Kinbaku in a rather lovely video here.

I hope you might find it interesting and even pass it on to other friends who may like it.

It has made me think though about the role of lingerie in bdsm, kink and fetish. Women - do you like to dress up for your partner? Can it give you a feeling of power or submission? Can it just make you feel positive because you have made the effort to look attractive, sexy or seductive? And men - do you like your woman dressed seductively for you, whether as dominant or submissive?

(I have to admit that I rather like the look of women dressed as dominatrices even though I have no desire to be dominated. Perhaps it is because I like strong women. I must enjoy the challenge!)

being outed...

In a recent post here I discussed "coming out" about ones BDSM lifestyle. In the comments Dani said she had been "outed" by her X.

Being outed is a whole different ball game from deciding to come out oneself. As Lea commented coming out or being outed could have huge consequences for her.

Some time ago gay activists outed prominent people who were gay without their permission. Often this was to illuminate hypocrisy and to further their cause for equality and acceptance. This was widely criticised by many.

Given that the consequences of being outed as in a BDSM lifestyle can have such adverse consequences, can it ever be justified?

Have any readers had experience of this?

the views of vanilla friends about BDSM...

When I was responding to some of the comments to the previous post about coming out I had some thoughts about the potential views of vanilla friends.

There may be a significant lack of understanding from many in the vanilla world. When some have come out to friends it has resulted in a judgemental response and then friendships have been lost. However, I can understand  that some friends might be concerned and initially unhappy for understandable reasons.

In the case of a female submissive a friend might be shocked at the nature of the relationship if each of them had understandably strong views about the rights of women and their equal place in society. It might be that in the vanilla world the submissive in this case is perceived as a strong woman who would advocate these rights. This could cause some confusion in the friend who could not reconcile the submissive nature of her personal relationship with views about appropriate roles for women.

A vanilla friend might find it very difficult to distinguish between abuse and consensual use in a relationship or play setting. To many in the vanilla world much BDSM play must seem like abuse - especially the more extreme forms of play.

I think in these cases the friend who was negative might not be being judgemental but being properly concerned for a friend. It might take a lot of discussion and education for this to be resolved and in some cases may never be. If the response is not purely judgemental though then perhaps that is OK. Surely it is good to have friends looking out for you.

coming out

Are you out to friends and relatives about your BDSM relationship? Few are I think. Despite the new popularity of BDSM themed novels and films the BDSM scene is seen as rather strange and scary to many in society. Indeed many will find it distasteful and immoral. Issues of feminism, human rights and abuse can soon come to the fore.

So we tend to keep it quiet in the main other than with friends in the scene.

Lea wrote a little while ago on her blog about coming out to a friend who she thought would understand. Someone she hoped she could talk to freely and honestly about this important part of her life and relationship with the person she was closest to. Sadly that friend was unhappy about it. She saw it as something unhealthy, to be cured. You can read Lea's blog post here. One of her commenters had a similar experience which destroyed a friendship.

Inès and I once came out to a younger, broad minded friend. She too though could not understand it and misunderstood the nature of out activity even though she knew us well. Fortunately it has not affected our friendship.

I wonder if others have had similarly negative responses - or do you just keep it quiet just in case?

nude

A comedy film came on TV last night just as I was going to bed. It was quite amusing and I found myself watching it all the way through. It was about three couple entering a competition for the most novel wedding. One couple wanted a naturist wedding and spent most of their time in the film completely and explicitly nude though there was no eroticism or sex in the film.

Afterwards I googled the film to find out some more about it and discovered the actors playing the naturist couple had been shocked at quite how explicit the nudity was when shown. They were unhappy about having shown their bodies so totally. Was this some kind of shame in their bodies? Lack of confidence? Or just that they felt they had been misled and exploited?

How do you feel about your body? Are you happy to display it naked? Do you even get off on it?

Inès delights in being nude in public. She does it as her job as an artist's life model. She enjoys exhibitionism. We had hoped to go to a recent event where all the men were in suits and all the women naked but were unable to attend. Though even at that I understand some women kept certain items of lingerie on. We plan to go to a local fetish event soon with Inès naked and me fully dressed.

I have worked with her once as a life model and there were artists there who I know. I felt completely at ease with it.

For some it is a delight rather than a fear. It can be completely asexual in certain circumstances but in others have a strong erotic charge.

Have you been naked in public? Did you get off on it? Would it be a challenge for you? Dare you... ?

Do tell...

"un art de vivre"?

I came across this comment on Twitter today,

"BDSM… Un art de vivre, pas un hobby."

Roughly translated - "BDSM... A lifestyle not a hobby."

Is MonsieurF right? Must BDSM be a lifestyle rather than a hobby or can it be either or even something in-between?

severe spankings and beatings

How severe a spanking or beating can you take if you are a sub?

It will depend of course on the type of spanking being administered. An erotic spanking may not work if it is too hard, a maintenance spanking may be harder and a punishment spanking harder still. There may be lots of other factors that come into play. For instance the time of day, the time of the month, attitude, build up, environment, trust in or love for the spanker.

There are some who find that from regular beatings their bottom no longer marks as easily. They may crave being marked and desire ever harder beatings to create those marks. Though I have another friend who used to love a severe spanking. However since a change in relationship she has not been spanked as often and finds that her pain threshold has reduced.

There is a very interesting long post about spanking and pain tolerance by Ros here that readers may be interested in.

What is the hardest beating you have received? Would you like to repeat it? Do you gain satisfaction in pushing yourself further in receiving harder spankings?

sub drop and dom drop

It was nearly seven years ago that I discussed sub drop on the blog. You can read the post and comments here. I looked back at it recently as I found myself in discussion with someone about it.

She felt it might be stronger from a sub and Dom perspective after sensual play rather than just from physical or impact play. She also found it could come upon her a couple of days after the session.

It reminded me of the responsibilities we each hold for one another in caring and supporting each other on an ongoing basis and the need to look out for later reactions.

It also reminded me of examples of dom drop that I have read about. My own experience of that is fairly minimal - what one would expect in reaction to any intense experience. Though I know there are some Doms who have become fearful of what they have discovered in themselves after extreme play.

you deserve...

By chance I came across this yesterday and thought I would share it with you...

"You deserve a lover who wants you disheveled, with everything and all the reasons that wake you up in a haste and the demons that won’t let you sleep.

You deserve a lover who makes you feel safe, who can consume this world whole if he walks hand in hand with you; someone who believes that his embraces are a perfect match with your skin.

You deserve a lover who wants to dance with you, who goes to paradise every time he looks into your eyes and never gets tired of studying your expressions.

You deserve a lover who listens when you sing, who supports you when you feel shame and respects your freedom; who flies with you and isn’t afraid to fall.

You deserve a lover who takes away the lies and brings you hope, coffee, and poetry."
Frida Kahlo

What do you deserve?

(...apart from a good spanking of course!)

oral and BDSM

In a couple of posts recently on A Kind Dom here and on Uncle Agony here we have been discussing oral sex, whether subs enjoy it or not and how to get over distaste for the activity.

Dani loves it (do read her take on it here!) Abby likes it when she is given permission! Lea and SugarSack don't like it but are trying for their Doms. Mary finds it revolting and is looking for advice on how to cope. And this is within a typical vanilla experience of oral sex.

However, much porn now shows women being forced and choked in oral sex scenes. They are perhaps the most D/s and BDSM oriented scenes in vanilla porn. I wonder if many Doms like to control and perhaps humiliate their subs in this way? Also are there any subs who get off on this kind of activity? Does it give you pride to be able to take it deeply or a strong feeling of submission to be forced in such scenarios?

If a sub really cannot accept coming in her mouth...

Mary has written to Uncle Agony about this here.

She really cannot cope with her Master coming in her mouth and this is beginning to cause serious problems.

Is there a solution?

I know Mary is eager to hear suggestions from readers so please do comment on Uncle Agony.

swallowing...

Do you swallow?

- semen that is. I had an email this week for Uncle Agony about it. I'll post it next week.

Meantime I'm still in the throws of moving house and recovering from illness. Nothing major.

More soon...

revisiting "Primal"

While I am busy I thought you might like some reading. Earlier this year I wrote a post on primal play. It attracted some interesting comments and discussion. I was surprised to note that it became just about the most read of recent posts. So perhaps you may be interested in reading a blog post I came across recently. You can find it here. It perhaps extends the notion of primal play into the broader realm of sexual activity.

It would be great to hear what some of you think of the post.

sorry...

... that I've not been around much.

Moving house next week - amongst all the other chaos.

More soon...

Promise!

P xxxx

energy and motivation

I usually try to post on a Thursday. No reason for that I suppose other than to give some order and expectation to my posting and a routine perhaps helps me in some tasks. Though I hate being disciplined by routine - or anything!

I didn't get round to posting yesterday. I was busy - but I am often busy and make time to post on this blog as a priority. This week I didn't - or not in time for my self-imposed deadline. It doesn't matter, the world won't come to an end. But...

Well, could it be an indication of not coping, or lethargy or something more? It got me thinking about larger things. I'm often under stress in my personal life from a variety of causes and now is no exception. There have been times in the past when I haven't coped and that has had some serious consequences.

We all go through bouts of feeling down or even serious depression and/or anxiety. For some submissives BDSM can help them through such periods. It can keep them on track, maintain their focus and become a solid point for an anchor. I wonder though if for some it becomes difficult to maintain their submissive role. It is hard work. it requires strength to be a good submissive. So what when the submissive no longer feels strong and lacks the energy to submit with the alacrity she used to? And for the Dom too - how does he maintain that dominance when he is feeling tired and drained? I wonder then what the effect is on their submissive when they appear less dominant, take less charge, make fewer demands.

Have you been there in any of those situations? How did you cope? Did it affect your relationship? How did you help each other get out of it? Was BDSM a support and help - or something that got in the way of solving the underlying problems?

is BDSM erotic?

I find it so.

I get turned on by power and control in a sensual  or sexual setting. For instance in my last post about orgasms I find controlling a sub's orgasms erotic in itself. The same with other aspects of BDSM such as bondage, spanking, etc. - especially when combined within such settings.

I wonder though if others find this almost frivolous. For them D/s may be a lifestyle choice. They get satisfaction and fulfillment from it without the need for a sexual thrill.

I am not trying to say that for me BDSM is exclusively a sexual activity. However it certainly adds to my sexual pleasure.

I do know that many submissives are also turned on through being controlled, from being in the power of another, by being spanked or held in bondage.

I wonder about my readers...

Does BDSM turn you on?

...or is it more serious than that?

controlling orgasm

It can be fun to control orgasm. The Dom of course gets fun from exercising control in a very intimate setting. There can be pleasure for the sub too. Insisting on a sub asking permission before coming can keep the sub at that level of being on the edge of orgasm for some time. That can be a very pleasurable place to be - as well as frustrating for some. When given permission to come after this period of delay can result in an even more intense orgasm. Training a sub to come on demand can I am sure be great fun also. I have heard from those who say they can come on the command of a particular word - or through counting down. That could be very interesting in a crowded restaurant! I will often command Inès to come as she is approaching orgasm which gets her to associate my command with her orgasm. She now says she gets pleasure from the command and it can assist her in achieving orgasms on occasions where she is tired and didn't think she could come again. Though we are certainly nowhere near the stage of coming to orgasm just from the command.

I am not sure of the pleasure involved in long term orgasm control such as the wearing of chastity devices for extended periods but there are those who gain pleasure from this as Doms and subs.

I have been reminded recently though in correspondence with a friend that there can be dangers where this is taken too far and goes beyond the sphere of pleasure and the control becomes conditioning that can have long term negative consequences for the submissive. My friend has left her husband and Dom after many years of what she now recognises as abuse. She now has some serious sexual problems because of the long term effects of orgasm control. Another correspondent had a very similar experience and wrote about it in some detail to Uncle Agony some time ago. You can read her story here. (There is more discussion of the issue on this blog here and here.)

Do you enjoy controlling the orgasms of another or having your orgasms controlled? Is there any danger in this? Can it have unforeseen consequences? Are there other aspects of conditioning inherent in BDSM activity that can also be potentially psychologically harmful?

rope

I like rope.

Well - in a certain context!

I like using it on my woman, to wrap her, restrain her, bind her, stretch her, open her.

I like making patterns with rope on her body.

I like the feel of natural hemp rope that I have prepared myself as I run it through my hands before tying her tightly so she too can feel the sensuousness of the rope as it moves across her body before digging into her and enclosing her.

I like the marks it leaves on her body.

I like the way it controls her.

I like her response as her body and mind sink into the sensuality of the experience.

I like photographs and videos where rope has been used in this way as an art form; the beauty of some shibari or kinbaku; the eroticism of performance and the response of the model.

I like taking my own photographs of rope used in this way. There are a few on my Fetlife profile.

Do you like rope? Do you like using it or it being used on you? What do you enjoy about it? Is it the powerlessness if you are tied or the power if you are tying? Do you enjoy the sensuality of it? Is it the physical experience or the mental one that is stronger - or is it a combination of both?

If you have any memorable experiences with rope do feel free to share them with us here...

art porn...

In recent weeks I've discussed ethical porn and feminist porn but I feel that I now prefer something that has better production values and perhaps even aspires to an artistic input where the overall look and feel of the result is important. If it becomes truly artistic then is it any longer porn? Or might it then be described instead as erotica? Though perhaps some of this kind of work can become pretentious and lose the erotic charge.

There are sop many debates about what may or may not be art and some interesting examples in literature where banned books such as D H Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and Hubert Selby's "Last Exit To Brooklyn" were later seen not as obscene but as literature. There have been films where similar arguments have taken place. One example in the UK was Stanley Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange". That was originally controversial and banned but not by any stretch of the imagination porn. More recent examples of controversial mainstream films with a strong sexual element are for instance in Europe Lars Von Trier's "Nymphomaniac" and in the US John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus".

In photography there are now lots of photographers producing beautiful, stylised pictures of bondage and bdsm scenes. They certainly seem more artistic or erotic rather than pornographic.

In the end perhaps it is not a matter of whether it is art or not - but whether it brings another vision of sex and often bdsm.

Do any of the following work in that context?

From last week's post here is the site of women reading, Hysterical Literature.

Four chambers is a group that produce some very interesting videos some of which I rather like. Their website is here.

A favourite of mine that you may like is called TIGER. You can watch it on Vimeo here.

So are any of these porn or art or erotica or...
... none of the above?

What turns you on?

feminist porn

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porn and young people

Last week we had an interesting discussion about ethical porn. But however ethical that porn may be I wonder about its effect on young people.

I guess porn may have become the main sex education influence on many young people. There are lots of reports that children now become introduced to porn on the internet at a young age. When we watch BDSM porn we understand its context. However much porn has now taken on many of the aspects of BDSM and not in a good way. Gangbangs, choking oral sex, hard spanks including face slapping, forceful anal sex and much more is represented as mainstream. Force and lack of respect for the woman is seen as normal.

I do not feel that this is a good way for boys and girls to learn about sex. Boys may think that it is normal to treat girls disrespectfully and forcefully. Girls  may believe that this is what they have to accept.

There is another movement in porn sites as well as ethical porn - and that is feminist porn. Again Googling will bring up a number of sites. The whole notion of this is anathema in some feminist circles. I wonder too if it may sometimes be somewhat bland.

So is there an answer to this? Can we have a quality of sex education that helps young people have a more balanced view of sex and relationships? Is feminist porn an answer to this and the ethical porn issue? Or as in many aspects of society do we just have to recognise and accept that the internet is as much a negative force as a positive one?

ethical porn

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Primal

SwitchingFun posted a very interesting blog post in November about Primal play. Do read it here.

It is very interesting as well as being informative and offering good advice. It is not something I have been involved in but I have noticed others who say they are into Primal play. It looks as if it could be exciting and fun... though it also appears to have potential dangers. I suppose with all BDSM play the important aspect is to be aware of risks so as to minimise them as much as possible.

Although Switching Fun writes that it is not necessarily rough I have got the feeling that for many who like this kind of play it can be very rough. I wonder too if in the excitement and action of this kind of play whether it might be too easy to miss a safe word or for things to get a little out of control. Could it be a place where abusers could operate? There are also others - I am thinking in particular of the profile of a friend on Fetlife - for whom Primal is about extreme experiences and a more care-free approach. Perhaps being abused becomes almost part of that. Maybe the whole point is to no longer feel safe.

Perhaps I am just too cautious!

Have any other readers been involved in this kind of play? Is it what you are into? Is is something you would like to try?

Happy New Year

Wishing a very happy New Year to all readers of this blog.

Whatever your kink I hope that 2017 provides lots of opportunities for exploring your desires and finding fulfillment in great relationships. Have fun - and be kind to each other!

P xx